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About 500 plush dogs and cats are spread out with help from Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Department Cpl. Corey Cavalieri on Thursday at the Aaron Center in Dickson City, with more stuffed animals to be donated in the next few weeks.
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On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
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Motorists who use the Pango mobile app to pay at parking meters in Scranton will get reimbursed for any inadvertent overcharges since Sept. 1, the new operator of the city’s parking system said.
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Editor: Since a member of the Scranton City Council opted to use the phrase "Legion of Doom," it is only fitting that I, as a self-proclaimed "legionnaire," respond to that incriminating name tag.

The council member said the Legion of Doom comprises "people that want the city of Scranton to fail."

The fact is that people who do not want Scranton to survive have already fled to the suburbs as evidenced by the declining population of Scranton.

People who have not fled to the suburbs are the residents of Scranton, the "legionnaires" who have been beaten into near financial submission by the pending city tax and trash collection fee increases.

Within the past five years, county taxes, utilities, parking, unions, and the almost laughable fiasco of the Scranton Parking Authority building, have contributed to the burden of Scranton taxpayers.

It is in fact the Scranton taxpayer who is by definition being chastised by a member of our own city council as being part of the Legion of Doom.

The pending city tax and trash collection increases are going to financially cripple many of the "legionnaires." When are the residents of Scranton going to receive some financial relief from the continuous onslaught of taxation?

It does not take too much anger to realize that a sad moment has been cast upon Scranton residents. The people who are supposed to be looking out for our well-being only view us as the complainers, the agitators, the Legion of Doom. How sad. How politically stupid.

RICH LAYTOS

LEGIONNAIRE IN TRAINING,

SCRANTON

Unbearable

Editor: I beg our local elected officials to stop raising our taxes. I will not begrudge or publicly condemn Mayor Chris Doherty or Scranton City Council for making such a bad decision.

My only concern is for the people of Scranton. How will they pay for all these tax increases? How will our people be able to afford to keep their homes, take care of their families and pay their bills?

There is a fine line between helping our community or hurting it. These tax increases will most certainly put us in our grave. My message to Mayor-elect Bill Courtright and the next Scranton City Council is that the more you tax Scranton the less money you shall have.

People and businesses will simply move onto greener pastures. I only want what's best for my community and my home town of Scranton.

MARCEL LISI

SCRANTON

No GOP alternative

Editor: So the Republicans have their best chance ever to destroy Obamacare.

Oh, I get it. People with minimal insurance are annoyed they might have to buy more expensive plans after President Obama said they wouldn't have to. The website stinks. Initial enrollment is low. Implementation is a hot mess. This gives Republicans tools to try to kill it and they might succeed. It's way easier to destroy something being built than to help build it.

But what crawls out of the rubble if the well-insured and financially insulated Republican politicians and their backers do manage to blow up the ACA? What's their plan?

Insurance companies have to profit and health care providers have to get paid, so costs to treat the uninsured are rolled into fees for the insured. What's their plan to fix that? What about the uninsurables who finally get a plan and then lose it? What about people facing bankruptcy when their medical costs exceed their plan limits or are thrown off their plans because of a conveniently discovered previous medical condition? What about provider structures that lose Medicaid expansion and new-insurance dollars?

Adequate health care for our citizens, like roads, bridges, power grids, education, and defense, is part of our national infrastructure. It's important to the strength of our country.

Yeah, I know. Protect individual freedom. Get the government off our back. Obama's a lying socialist. The ACA will enslave and bankrupt the country. I've seen the creepy Uncle Sam ads and listened to Fox. I've heard all the talking points.

But what I haven't heard is the official Republican plan to bolster the nation's health care system and make health care accessible and affordable to everyone who needs it.

STAN GUMBLE

HONESDALE

Fewer amens

Editor: The Obama choir of Your Opinion contributors is low on hallelujahs these days.

Makes one wonder - is it because the president keeps skirting the Constitution with his bevy of Band-aids or possibly because he flat out lied to the American citizenry 29 times when he proclaimed if you like your insurance/doctor, you can keep your insurance/doctor? Period. No nuances, no caveats there.

We all see how that is working out for those who did like their insurance, and did like their doctor.

And these falsehoods were thrust upon the American public, no less. I wonder how the people of Israel sleep at night, knowing that they have placed their trust for their very survival in the hands of this administration.

Two new dynamics exist today that did not exist five years ago: our enemies do not fear us, and our allies do not trust us.

ED RYAN

PLAINS

Paybacks achieved

Editor: Richard J. Yost (Your Opinion, Nov. 16) states "Barack Obama has done less discretionary spending than any president since Dwight Eisenhower."

This may be true but this same president has been dreadfully indiscreet concerning his sharing of all the cash. First it was the unions that received his largess, then Acorn and sundry other marginal groups collected their payoff. And, let us not forget, all the new start-up businesses such as Solyndra.

And, because Mr. Obama was so careful with his spending, the national debt has only increased by some $3 trillion-plus since he assumed office. It's got to be George Bush's fault.

ROY A. WILLIAMS

CHINCHILLA

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